Palestina

Egypt’s foreign minister accused Iran of having encouraged Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to seize neighbouring Gaza and said it posed a threat to the Arab world, in remarks published on Wednesday.

TRIPOLI (AFP) — Six foreign medics on death row for infecting Libyan children with the AIDS virus launched a final appeal on Wednesday after more than eight years behind bars for a crime they say they did not commit.

NAHR BARED (AFP) — Lebanese troops bombarded Islamists inside a besieged refugee camp on Wednesday after seizing key outposts in part of the camp a month after the showdown erupted.

RAMALLAH (AP) — Addressing the Palestinian people for the first time since the Hamas takeover of Gaza, President Mahmoud Abbas angrily lashed out at the Islamic fighters Wednesday, accusing them of trying to build an “empire of darkness” in Gaza and pledging he would not talk to “murderous terrorists”.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — The plight of some 200 Gazans, stranded in no-man’s-land on the Israeli border in a desperate bid to flee last week’s Islamist takeover of the territory, is dividing Israeli opinion.

Lebanese troops inched towards Islamic strongholds in a north Lebanon Palestinian refugee camp Tuesday as mediators hinted at a possible ceasefire deal that includes the disarmament of the Al Qaeda-inspired gunmen.

US President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged on Tuesday to bolster Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, as Israel sought to tighten the screws on Hamas Islamists who control Gaza.

A leading Hamas politician in Gaza on Monday accused former Gaza strongman Muhammed Dahlan of having planned to “liquidate Hamas in the Gaza Strip and carry out large-scale massacres.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday sought to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his battle with Hamas for primacy, calling him a moderate voice and the only true leader of the Palestinian people.

Aid trucks from the United Nations World Food Program have rolled into the Gaza Strip for the first time since Hamas took control of the Palestinian territory last week.